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Reuse, Pass It On!

Ok, so it’s something my dad taught me. It’s probably a depression era kickback idea, but it can do some good in multiple ways.

My dad has always had what my brother and I have referred to as a box fetish. No, it’s not actually anything kinky or weird that way…he just seems to collect boxes.

Over time, I’ve begun to understand the thought process. They could be useful for when you need to move, ship gifts, ship sales products, put away off season décor…

My dad grew up with a grandfather that thought a good use of time for grandsons was to straighten bent nails so that they could be used again. Very much depression era recycling.

So, over the years, we convinced dad to at least cut down the boxes, so that there was a smaller space of flat boxes ready to retape rather than a full wall of empty, but ready to use boxes.

Though not all could be cut down as there have always been a few to hold packaging. There is a box to house crumpled butcher style paper, another with the old school packing peanuts, another full of bubbles, and of course a box of biodegradable packing peanuts.  

As I got into business for myself, I began to understand his box collection as an interesting take on being dedicated to the reduce, reuse, recycle cause.

We never threw away packing materials, but anytime something needed to be shipped we used whatever box and materials best suited the shipment.

So far, we have been able to keep our packaging wall in check with this process.

I therefore ship out packages with whatever shipping materials I have on hand. If I am sent recyclable materials, I give them a second life by reusing them to send out to my customers. 

If I receive low or no recyclability packaging, I fret not, I simply reuse these as well in an effort to reduce waste.  All materials I receive get a second life in heading out to the next destination.

I do not purchase materials that cannot be recycled as I don’t want to encourage their production particularly. More important to me though is that they do not end up in a landfill because of me.

Certainly, new materials will need to enter the cycle periodically, but I feel my strategy is a great step in reducing waste.

So here comes the pass it on… Maybe the next time you receive a package, instead of throwing away the packaging material, reuse it instead.  If you don’t have room to store it, or have a need for the material, maybe find a local company (potentially a small business) that could use them.

In the current economic situation, a few gifted materials could be the saving grace for a company having a rough time with the COVID-19 economy.

Plus – Bonus! – you just helped the planet by keeping these materials in circulation rather than in the dump.